"Windows Explorer has crashed" & clicking PSU

I think I'm up a very dirty creek with no paddle, and likely need to replace PSU and re-install windows.. (if not forced to replace other parts.. which I really am dreading.. damned expenses..)

Anyways, just recently (within this last week) I keep getting an error where Windows Explorer is crashing. What will happen is I'll be doing something, everything will freeze up and/or screen will briefly go blank before going back to desktop... then I'll get a popup telling me that explorer.exe had crashed. Clcik that away and then wait... 95% of the time the computer comes back, 5% of the time it completely locks up. Even if it comes back, the only thing I can do is shut any program down and then reboot the computer - this is because as soon as explorer.exe crash's once... it just keeps crashing every 5-10 minutes (so even if I get through 1 crash, shortly later it'll crash again.. potentially locking the machine up).

Unfortunately at this time I don't have a copy of the error text provided when it crash's. And don't know where the error logs might be stored.. so if anyone can direct me to these logs, I'd be appreciative.

Not 100% sure why it's doing this - it could be just an issue with Windows, which a re-install will resolve. I did have similar issue happen last time I re-installed windows... so might be a sign to do that again. It could be a sign of something more concerning - and considering what just happened... I'm starting to think it might be.

What just happened, and it's the first time ever, is my PSU started to "click". I'm taking this as a sign that the PSU is about to die / blow up / explode / implode / etc. I could here a clear and audible clicking sound from it that came at regular 5-10 second intervals... and even more concerning, I could feel vibration on the PSU case when it clicked. Not really happy about that...I'd say the PSU is about to die, and it might be shorting.. which might be whats causing the windows explorer crash's I've been experiencing.

Not sure how I could test either.. I'm likely going to be replacing the PSU no matter what. Clicking and vibration... not a good sign. It's not clicking or vibrating anymore, but I'm now really concerned...

PSU is: Corsair HX850W

The PSU is quite old, so it might just be old age... I've had it around 3 years now, so it might just be getting old and worn out.

But yeah, if I could get advice on:

a) Windows Explorer has crashed / Explorer.exe has crashed Where the error logs are located Clicking & vibration in the PSU.

I agree that you should probably replace the PSU. Maybe you can get warranty work done for it? I would first check the background applications to make sure that there isnt an issue affecting explorer.exe
Another easy resolution could be to go to a system restore point that the explorer.exe issue wan't prevalent.

The first thing I would be pull the PSU and dust it out thoroughly. Its possible a bug (insect) or something got into the PSU and you can dust it out. If it continues to click, then the bearings in the fan probably are going.

The problem with doing the warranty replacement for the PSU is I do not have a spare PSU, and warranty replacements can take months (it took 2 months to get a warranty replacement of a faulty video card earlier this year). I don't feel like waiting 1-2-3-4-etc months with no computer till a replacement comes.

So if I replace it, it's going to cost me ~$200-250 to do so. I might still try and get a warranty replcement done on it once I have a proper working PSU in-place. Regarding still being in warranty - Australia is terrible for warranty on electronic goods, generally only get 12 months warranty legally - any extra is manufacturer offered and not legally enforced. However, I will check further - because if Corsair offer a manufacturer warranty that's valid here that's 7 years as indicated on the newegg American site... then I should be covered.

Edit - I just checked, and store I bought it from indicates 7 year warranty. So that's all good. Now just have to consider buying a new PSU so I can still have a computer when/if I send current PSU for warranty.

Regarding the restore points - I have 1 restore point... lol... and not sure it was even before I started getting the windows explorer crashing issue.

Elder III - thanx for the link to the dump file guide. I've configured it so it should hopefully record any further crash's I get, so I can then check the dump records. Nothing had been recorded yet..

Although when I set a small memory dump directory... I get a stupid popup error telling me virtual memry is disabled and not working and should be configured. Strange seeing as I have a custom sized virtual page memory file configured (I rather manually set the min & max values, rather than let windows configure it's size on the fly). *sighs* it's like it can't even see there is a virtual page memory set if it's configured to "custom" rather than "be an idiot and let windows mess things up by managing the size" (and yes, I've had issues in the past with letting windows manage the size of the virtual page file).

dhatcher1 - that's something I hadn't thought of. The vibrating could be the fan, bearings or just dust and crud clogging it up. I do have a huge dust problem where I live (my case has dust filters all over it, and have to clean them out at least once a month... if not more often) - due to dusty construction works nearby, and the wind generally blows off the construction site and then into my window... blerch.

Mireless - happens all the time. Well, randomly happens. Haven't had anymore PSU clicking since I posted.. had a windows explorer crash this morning, but it's been working fine since. It randomly happens - generally seems to happen more often when downloading files with FF (maybe time to go back to Chrome.. *sighs*), but it has happened when closing out of GW2, as well as during playing Skyrim (was playing, screen went blank.. Skyrim closed and got explorer.exe crash window).

I wonder, could this be a sign that either of my HD's is failing, and explorer.exe is crashing when trying to write something to the HD? I've had HD's fail on me before, but never had this happen when they have failed. But it could be a possibility?

Hello. Do you run AMD and have you installed the latest catalyst 12.10 update? I appear to be getting the same problem, my windows explorer crashing seemingly at random, or when I try to play a game. It is infuriating, to be honest.

Hello. Do you run AMD and have you installed the latest catalyst 12.10 update? I appear to be getting the same problem, my windows explorer crashing seemingly at random, or when I try to play a game. It is infuriating, to be honest.
Just thought it sounded similar.

Interesting, as that is something someone else above mentioned as well. And yes, I do use AMD/ATI video cards, currently using the 12.10 beta release.... so, it very well could be the cause and culprit to the explorer.exe crash's. I wonder. Time to either downgrade, or upgrade to the 12.11 beta drivers (even though the 12.11 beta drivers do nothing for me...)

Edit - and just had another crash. And checked the error report - yep, ATI/AMD driver file caused the crash. So definitely time to change driver versions.

Uninstall the AMD drivers, then reboot into Safe Mode - run DriverSweeper and uninstall anything under "AMD: Display" then reboot into Windows and install the latest (non beta) AMD drivers.

That can potentially fix atiumd64.dll errors.

The latest non-beta drivers are the same version as the beta drivers.. 12.10. lolz. And the 2 version's prior to that killed FireFox for me (and I will not use IE and don't really like Chrome). So I've done a clean uninstall and installed the 12.11 beta4 drivers and pray'ing these don't cause the same issues. So far had no crash's... but they've only been installed like 1 day so far, so still to early to tell.